title: Conservation of satellite DNA in species of the genus Pimelia (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera).
abstract: Satellite DNA has been characterized in six allopatric species from the genus Pimelia: P. interjecta, P. integra, P. variolosa and P. baetica, inhabiting Iberian Peninsula, and P. elevata and P. criba, endemic to Balearic Islands Ibiza and Mallorca, respectively. All species show the presence of a single satellite DNA of a basic monomer length of 357 bp and A+T content of 69%, comprising a considerable amount of the genome (39%-45%, corresponding to about 4.5 x 10(5) copies per haploid genome). The sequence analysis of 22 cloned repeats reveals very high intra- and interspecific sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis separates the satellite sequences into two clusters, each comprising clones from three species exclusively. Within the clusters, satellite clones are not grouped species-specifically, except those of P. integra where species-diagnostic nt substitutions are detected with a pattern that could be produced by gene conversion. Such high sequence conservation could be related to preservation of satellite DNA curvature, resulting in a higher order helical structure, proposed to act as a specific protein binding domain.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Biologia Ambiental, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bruvo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Juan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petitpierre
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plohl
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ugarković
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004276:DNA, Satellite